Ephemera

December 24, 2003

A Christmas Reflection

24 December 2003, Balad, Iraq

I wish to thank the people of this great nation for the generous and loving support showered upon me, and my fellow soldiers, during this time of service. We have left our wives and husbands, parents and children, family and friends to face uncertain life in a distant country; distant both in miles and ideology. Perhaps this separation was not of our own choosing, but is one which we honorably bear because we have given our oath, our promise, to keep our people and children safe from the tyranny of a lost people, a people which does not have the courage to face us, but must rely on acts of terror and deliberate deaths of innocents to further their aims and desires.

This time of year is especially hard on us as we Americans celebrate family and reflect upon our lives; themes which unite our people in diversity. Though we celebrate in different fashions - Thanksgiving, Ramadan, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa among others, we remain united in the sure knowledge that we, citizens of a great nation, are free.

Our mission here has changed since we first set foot upon this foreign soil - from war making to peace teaching. We see the progress we have made here and the bright future these newly free people will forge for themselves.

Our own expectations of returning to our homes, our families, our loved ones, by Christmas have been disappointed; but when I see the gifts, the cards, the presents sent to our soldiers for no other reason than to shed a bit of light and support, I know we are not forgotten in your hearts as you move along your daily
lives, readying yourselves for this holiday.

So I will wish you a Happy and a Merry Christmas from this soggy, muddy and cold base in Iraq - and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

You are the one to be thanked, you and all the others there with you. Thank you for what you do and for being such a wonderful representative of America. I hope you all have a happy and safe Christmas.

This may be the first time that I've come across your weblog (though I think I may have seen its title before, elsewhere on the web). I've been to so many blogs since I started my own... I think you have a good site.

I hope that you and yours had a great day, and are having a great holiday season.

You do not know us but, we are glad that we can write to you a few lines and so we will wish you from whole heart on a very „unusually place“

a great and good Happy New Year 2004

and hope that you can celebrate your next Christmas at home with your family. You are not alone, we are thinking on you particularly. Take care for you all the time and we hope for you so much that you can go home fast.

We know that you do a great job, a dangerous job, often not easy to do. Often you do not know who is your friend and how is your enemy. We know that your family and a lot of friends they are all waiting for you.

Have a great and a good new 2004, the same for your camrades, and your friends and family. Thank you very much for all you have done for us. Good luck and all the best!

You haven't posted in a while, so we were getting worried. If your up for a big laugh on the first day of the new year, go to www.cbsnews.com and click on the video portion about the bruhaha about the government's advertising on breast feeding vs the AAP. What a hoot! The Lactation Nazis are for the add. The Pediatricians are against scare tactics or coersion in getting women to breast feed.

Here you are, miles away from home where people get shot at daily, and these two groups are worried about how to encourage breast feeding. We thought you might enjoy some lunancy on New Year eve.

Now I'm off to work, to engage in the battle of which hospital will deliver the first baby of the New Year in our area. We won in 2000 and I think 2001, but we lost last year. Th-th-th-th-aht's all folks.

I wish I could hug each and every one of you in the military services and thank you in person for the difficult job you have before you. I can't do that so I write letters and send small packages and pray for your safe return home.I ask GOD to bless you and keep you safe and always in HIS sight.If anyone knows SSG Ramiro A Better,who wrote back to me,I have sent mail to him but it has been returned for wrong address.He can email me at MsMaxie332@aol.com I don't want him to think I'm ignoring his letter.
God Bless you all .
Mickie Cummings Fort Walton Beach FLorida